Our Programs

The Atlanta Volunteer Lawyers Foundation (AVLF) coordinates the provision of free civil legal services for low-income Fulton County residents by private lawyers. Twelve hundred or more times per year, these pro bono services are offered in response to the specific legal needs of individuals. Also, several dozen times per year, AVLF organizes volunteer efforts by Atlanta's lawyers to address community-wide legal needs of the poor or underrepresented.

Established in 1979, AVLF currently offers services to Fulton County residents with income at or less than 200% of the federal poverty guidelines.

AVLF currently administers several pro bono projects. The One Child, One Lawyer Program provides an attorney ad litem to represent foster children in the juvenile courts of DeKalb and Fulton Counties. Through the Wills on Wheels program, non-ambulatory seniors and others have Wills and advance directives drawn by volunteer lawyers who visit clients at their home or at community centers. The Wills for Emergency Personnel Project offers a will at no cost for any member of the City of Atlanta Fire Department, and Fulton County Sheriffs and Marshals. AVLF's Eviction Defense Program offers legal representation to any tenant threatened with the loss of his/her home. The Guardian ad Litem Program provides a guardian at the request of Fulton Superior Court Judges in contested custody disputes. AVLF's Domestic Violence Program helps victims of domestic and other violence, regardless of economic status, to secure temporary (and longer) Protective Orders. The Advocacy in Education for Children with Special Needs Program provides legal assistance to families with children with special education needs.

Any case that does not fit neatly into the categories listed above, or the many other programs run by AVLF, may be placed with AVLF's Saturday Lawyer Program, the Foundation's oldest and largest volunteer program. Forty Saturday mornings a year, volunteer lawyers staff the Downtown Atlanta Legal Aid office and represent clients in consumer matters, landlord tenant matters that do not involve imminent dispossessory actions, probate claims, debt collection concerns, etc. For this and every program, AVLF provides training to the volunteers and supervision throughout the course of the representation.

AVLF is funded by an add-on to each civil filing in the State and Magistrate Courts of Fulton County, by grants from the Georgia Bar Foundation, Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta, the Lawyers Foundation of Georgia, the Fulton County Department of Human Services and through private donations.